Prince Hassan: Jordan is Not Egypt

Jordan’s Prince Hassan said Sunday that although there have been sporadic demonstrations in the Hashemite kingdom, the situation there is different than the turmoil that has gripped Egypt, because his country has a constitution, which is not a subject of controversy.

He also told Bob Schieffer of CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that there is no question that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will step down, but the problem is what will come next.

“He said he will step down, but it’s a question of what follows, and as I understand, his vice president has had the agreement of all the parties to discuss the constitution,” said the prince, the uncle of Jordan’s King Abdullah, who recently fired his government amid protests.

“I make a distinction that in Jordan we already have a constitution, which I don’t think is a subject of major controversy.”

The prince noted, however, the entire region must confront a dilemma when considering political reforms, which he likened to “two elephants in the room.”

“One is the instability of the price of oil, which has always been the case, and the other is the Arab-Israeli conflict,” he said. “So it’s almost as if people outside this region are saying: you can’t reform and you can’t improve your civil rights record because of the scarcity of oil resources, high pricing, and so forth that might affect other parts of the world.”

Schieffer asked the prince, whether he was concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood would step into the power vacuum.

“They are not homogeneous. And they’re certainly not al-Qaeda,” he said. “They’re certainly aware of Egypt’s responsibilities towards that second elephant, the peace treaty which I hope will cease to be a white elephant and be recognized through the transition of regimes, because no man lives forever and President Mubarak, with all due respect, is a man of a certain age.”